The software maker said on Friday that it will build support for RSS into the next version of Internet Explorer, as well as into Longhorn, the Windows update scheduled to arrive next year.

"We really think that RSS is going to be key to how people use the Internet in the future," said Gary Schare, a director of strategic product management for Microsoft's Windows unit. "Because of that we are betting really big on RSS in Longhorn by integrating RSS throughout the operating system."

With Windows Mobile 5.0Microsoft has focused on refining the existing concept of the Pocket PC and Smartphone. Rich Hall covered the high level changes in his article “First Look… Windows Mobile 5.0” Pocket PC Magazine, July 2005. This article expands on the new features of Windows Mobile 5.0 based on working with it.

Microsoft is working on its own file-sharing application, code-named Avalanche.

Unveiled at a Microsoft open house by its United Kingdom researchers in Cambridge, the project is the company's own take on peer-to-peer file-sharing technology such as BitTorrent.

While Avalanche is based on a different system than BitTorrent, both are essentially used for the same purpose--to distribute large files between a number of users. In BitTorrent's case, that's largely downloading Linux distributions and cracked versions of movies.

A Microsoft spokesman, however, said there was to be no network naughtiness with Avalanche: "It includes strong security to ensure content providers are uniquely identifiable and to prevent unauthorized parties from offering content for download."

BitTorrent works essentially by breaking the information, or files, down into chunks. To build up a BitTorrent file, a user needs all the chunks. Some, however, are made available more often than others, which can create problems. In the Avalanche P2P equivalent, not all the chunks are needed to complete the file. The downside of the Avalanche system is that users can actually end up downloading more chunks than they need. But, claims Microsoft, because the load is spread more evenly, it can be more efficient.

Microsoft has released Beta 1 of the Microsoft Command Shell, a separate software program that provides direct communication between the user and the operating system. You can use the command shell to create and edit batch files to automate routine tasks. For example, you can use scripts to automate the management of user accounts or nightly backups. You can also use the Windows Script Host, CScript.exe, to run more sophisticated scripts in the command shell. You can perform operations more efficiently by using batch files than you can by using the user interface. Batch files accept all commands that are available at the command line. For more information about batch files and scripting, see Using batch files

Microsoft has released a test version of a new professional graphics tool code-named Acrylic.

The software is based on Expression, the graphics application Microsoft acquired with its 2003 purchase of Hong Kong company Creature House, the software giant said on its Web site.

Microsoft describes the software--currently available as a 77MB free download--as bringing together pixel-based painting and vector graphics features. These capabilities will put the product squarely in the market currently dominated by software maker Adobe Systems with its pixel-focused Photoshop and vector-driven Illustrator products.

Acrylic appears to support opening and exporting to Photoshop and Illustrator file formats, as well as other standard graphics formats. In addition, the application appears to be able to export to Adobe's Portable Document Format, or PDF.

However, Microsoft noted Acrylic would not currently save pixel-type data to formats other than its native XPR file type.

Although a Macintosh version of Expression was available before the Microsoft purchase, the software giant said the test version of Acryclic cannot be used with the Apple Computer platform.

The test software, or beta, also has a limited life; it will expire Oct. 1.

Microsoft has recommended relatively high system specifications for Acrylic, saying consumers should preferably run the software on an Intel Pentium 4 machine, with Windows XP Service Pack 2, 512MB of memory, 500MB of disk space and a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet supporting the WinTab interface.

We’re pleased to release localized Emulator Images that enable you to test your applications for Windows Mobile 5.0 software for Pocket PC. These images can be used in conjunction with the Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Software Development Kit (SDK). The SDK includes an emulator that uses a virtual machine to run the full WM 5.0 Pocket PC independent of your main operating system on the same machine.